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Haseen Dillruba is another far-fetched tale glorifying violence and toxic masculinity in the name of love! When will Hindi Cinema get over this obsession?
I recently got the time to watch the much-hyped Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey and Harshvardhan Rane starrer Haseen Dillruba. The movie directed by Vinil Mathew and written by Kanika Dhillon is currently streaming on Netflix.
The synopsis of the movie is that Rani Kashyap (played by Taapsee Pannu) is Rishabh aka Rishu Saxena’s (played by Vikrant Massey’s) wife. She is charged with allegedly murdering her husband with the help of her lover Neel (played by Harshvardhan Rane). The movie explores elements of Indian households, adultery, love, and betrayal.
All the actors do a great job in the movie. The movie does try to explore the dynamics of extramarital affairs. It tries to descend from the fallout of an extra-marital affair in a conservative small town where the ‘Badchalan’ woman doesn’t have the liberty to disappear in the crowd like a big city.
But one thing that the movie also drags in is the concept of Pyaar Mein Sab Jayaz Hai! (everything is fair in love)
Hindi cinema’s obsession with everything is fair in the name of love is not new. We have seen it as stalking being justified for love in Raanjhana, we saw violence and misogyny justified in the name of love in Kabir Singh, and now we have Haseen Dillruba.
The movie has several instances where violence and obsession are justified in the name of love. Vikrant’s character Rishu asks his wife Rani to leave him after she confesses that she cheated on him. She on the other hand insists that she won’t leave and will do anything for his forgiveness. So with this, he attempts to kill her and incurs violence on her. On top of this Taapsee’s character justifies this violence as Love!.
I personally love Taapsee Pannu but I wish she wouldn’t have done this movie! I mean after doing a movie like Thappad how could you do a movie that justifies domestic violence in the name of love?
Haseen Dillruba again proves how we are so obsessed with toxic relationships. How many people even today continue being in toxic relationships because of Pyaar (love) or Samaj (society)! This is not Ok.
Rather than being focused on love and betrayal the movie focuses on toxicity in relationships and even glorifies it. I genuinely feel the aspect of leaving relationships because they have become abusive and toxic should have been dealt with in the movie.
It’s time our Hindi cinema realizes the fact that violence is not equal to love. Subjecting someone to violence just because they did something wrong and then glorifying the violence as love is not at all good, irrespective of their gender.
Stalking, obsession and violence are criminal offences, and it’s high time we stop equating them to love.
I read, I write, I dream and search for the silver lining in my life. Being a student of mass communication with literature and political science I love writing about things that bother me. Follow read more...
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If her MIL had accepted her with some affection, wouldn't they have built a mutually happier relationship by now?
The incident took place ten years ago.
Smita could visit her mother only in summers when her daughter had school holidays. Her daughter also enjoyed meeting her Nani, and both of them had done their reservations for a week. A month before their visit, her husband told her, “My mom is coming for 4-5 months!”
Smita shuddered. She knew the repercussions. She would have to hear sarcastic comments from her mother-in-law for visiting her mother. She may make these comments directly only a bit, but her servants would be flooded with the words, “How horrible she is! She leaves me and goes!”
Are we so swayed by star power and the 'entertainment' quotient of cinema that satisfies our carnal instincts that we choose to ignore our own subconscious mind which always knows what is right and what is wrong?
Trigger Warning: This has graphic descriptions of violence and may be triggering to survivors and victims of violence.
Do you remember your first exposure to an extremely violent act or the aftermath of a violent act?
I am pretty sure for most of us it would be through cinema. But I remember very vividly my first exposure to aftermath of an unbelievably grotesque violent act in real life. It was as a student at a Dental College and Hospital.
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